Frequently Asked Questions

This visiting post is not a staff position and does not offer salary or benefits. It does offer a $10,000 stipend for the Resident as compensation for their labor and creative and intellectual input. This is a before-tax amount. There is a separate $3000 budget that the Resident may put toward any university engagements.

We want to be clear that in years past, the taxability of this stipend has made a significant impact on what a resident can expect to be compensated. We cannot guarantee the amount but it has come in around $6500 after taxes in the past. 

Again, we encourage resident applicants to look on this as supplemental and not primary income. 

Applicants for the Residency are asked to prepare a plan for their $3000 budget, with the expectation that details may change. These funds can be put toward: materials for workshops or exhibitions, food, travel, or professional development. We are not able to provide funds for technical equipment. Honorarium for guest speakers or co-facilitators is an acceptable use of funds; we do, however, find it challenging financially and logistically to compensate members of cohort-based programs. Honoraria can be granted for specific contributions such as speaking engagements.

We will do our best to accommodate any access needs.

The Chicago Women's Center is located on the 14th floor of Abbot Hall. There is an ADA door at the South entrance with access to the elevators. 

Please note that while we are working to change this, Abbott Hall currently has only one publicly accessible all gender restroom. It is located on the 18th floor. 

The Evanston Women's Center is a two story house. The west facing ramp and first floor community room are ADA compliant. We are happy to provide specific measurements upon request. 

Northwestern does not currently employ a full time ASL interpreter. However, we have experience in contracting these services and are happy to do so as often as we are able. 

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic we maintain flexibility and accommodations around virtual and hybrid programming to the greatest extent possible for this and other health concerns. 

For further accessibility needs, please contact our center womenscenter@northwestern.edu. 

Care
We respect the demands of care taking of all kinds and will remain flexible to the hours and accommodations you may require. 

Children are welcome at both of our centers as visitors or more sustained work-buddies (in fact, both centers are home to children's libraries). We don't discriminate, but we do especially love a baby. 

Preference is given to candidates in the Chicago region. 

That being said, if you are relocating or are able to travel to Chicago with relative ease, we encourage you to apply. 

We are happy to accept international candidates but are not able to sponsor a visa at this time. 

 

That's up to you, but we recommend Residents rely on other sources of income. It would be very difficult to sustain on 10K in Chicago for a year. For this reason, our actual in-person residency requirements are flexible and can be built to accommodate your schedule.

No. The fellowship was developed to engage primarily Chicago region feminists and provide only supplementary income.  Applicants who don’t live in the Chicago area would need to make their own arrangements to commute for the events.

We do not require full-time residency in Chicago or at our centers. 

Residents are granted a private office on our Chicago campus to use at their own discretion. Residents are required to be present for once quarterly staff meetings (3 total, virtual attendance is fine), attendance at our June Garden party/exhibition, and some in-person engagement during the winter or spring quarters. 

If you wish to propose an alternative arrangement, please indicate this on your application. Our goal is to ensure a plan for community engagement with the greatest clarity possible; we will work with you to accommodate access needs. 

 

We encourage you to work with our campus partners. Please let us know what you have in mind in your application.

We cannot guarantee sustained relationships with members of staff or faculty beyond our center. 

In can be difficult to tell if a residency program is a good fit. We want to do our best to inform your decision to apply without foreclosing on the possibility of people and projects we have yet to imagine. 

In general, our Residency search committee seeks folks who are new to the university but not totally new to the work. The Chicago area is rich in artistic talent and activist energy already being put to use. We are hopeful that engaging with our center provides one of these folks per year the chance to put a little time aside for a dream project, one that advances the needs and desires of communities in the region and educates our students, staff, and faculty about front-line feminist work of various kinds. 

We welcome those who want to hone certain skills, test out new methods of engagement, realize a dream, develop their independent creative practice, and/or who are seeking community for their ideas.